Erebus Motorsport have their eyes on Sunday’s prize, after a promising start to the Darwin Triple Crown.

Reynolds started Race 11 from fourth and got a great jump to be the first to turn one, although couldn’t hold onto the lead and came out second by the end of the opening lap.

Reynolds’ team played a late hand by staying out as the rest of the field pit, before van Gisbergen speared off the track and propelled the #9 into the lead.

The race turned on its head when a Safety Car was deployed moments later; Reynolds made his only pit stop but with the field now bunched together, came out in 11^th place.

Reynolds didn’t stop there and continued to move forward to eighth spot; he then fought with Lowndes in the closing laps to eventually finish eighth.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same story for Dale Wood on the other side of the garage.

After qualifying 16^th, the #99 driver was the victim of a clash with Mark Winterbottom on lap one, sending both himself and Wood into a spin. The GB Galvanizing Commodore suffered a right rear puncture and ultimately fell to the rear of field.

Wood pit at the end of lap 19 where his misfortunes took another hit, copping a penalty for falsely re-joining the track under Safety Car.

He served his penalty laps later and ultimately finished 25^th.

The team are back on track tomorrow for Qualifying, ahead of the Top Ten Shootout and 200-kilometre race.

David Reynolds – #9 Erebus Penrite Racing

“My day was pretty good, rolled out in practice pretty fast and ended up second in that session. We did a really good job in qualifying and ended up fourth. Our objective was to be in the top six, to give us the best chance to win the race.

“I got a really good start and saw the lead at turn one, tried to go around the outside of everyone but unfortunately it didn’t pay off and I settled into third. McLaughlin made a mistake trying to pass Rick and I made it up to second. We were trucking along okay and catching Rick but I had an electrical drama and my gear shift slowly went over the race so that made it challenging.

“We came out after our stop tenth and got to seventh and the gear shift got worse again and Lowndesy got past me with about two laps to go. Overall, it was a really good day and we’ll give it a good crack tomorrow.”

Dale Wood – #99 Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing

“It was an interesting qualifying for me today, it wasn’t terrible and we ended up 16^th in a pretty tight pack so it was certainly an improvement from where we had been. Unfortunately, I made an error and stuck it in the fence in the final minute and gave the boys some work to do before the race.

“The team did a mega job to get the car together and get it back out. I got a love tap from Frosty at turn one and punctured my tyre and it was tough from there on; We never got a chance to get our lap back.”